Merillat-Masco Builder Cabinet Group Manufactured and Sold Defective Cabinets. No response from Customer Service Nationwide

Kraftmaid is maximizing their profit by not removing the sapwood from the cherry boards it glues up, just go into any older homedepot and look at the kraftmail cherry cabinets. They have very dark brown Cherry (after time with ultraviolet on it) glued to almost white sapwood. Not super noticable when the cabinets are new, but after a few years near a skylight or window... wow does it look awful. Its the first thing you are taught in woodworking 101 at palomar college.. dont do that unless you want angry customers. I am trying to buy kitchen cabinets and you can't even purchase an upgrade to not get sapwood on the good side. Oh well, they're making money.. till they're not..

-Bill

I want you to do me one favor before you continue any further. Go to the lumberyard and pick up several different pieces of stainable grade wood in the species of your cabinetry. Stain each one with the same color of stain, and at the same time.
You should immediatly notice subtle differences in the colors between them. It shouldn't take 2.5 yrs to notice this because that is the nature of wood.
Please stop bad-mouthing a company about a personal problem. Some people do not like the look and variations in stained wood. I would recommend painted cabinets in the future. You can't blame a company for not wanting to send a regional rep. out to explain these types of things to everyone that complains about these trivial things. You either want a kitchen....for free...or you are just bored and want to yell at someone.

I happen to know that some Merillat cabinets are not manufactured by Merillat at all, but by their sister company, Kraftmaid Cabinetry.

You stated that the cabinets were considered an upgrade. Was this of the "Merillat Masterpiece" product line? If so, Kraftmaid did it. I'm unaware of any other Merillat product lines that Kraftmaid manufactures for them, but Masterpiece is certainly made there.

KraftMaid Cabinetry
P.O. Box 1055
15535 South State Ave.
Middlefield, OH 44062
440/632-5333
Toll free consumer hot line
1-888-562-7744

Do not let them tell you that they do not have information on Merillat Masterpiece orders. It's all processed at Kraftmaid's office, assembled on their lines, and ships from their loading docks.

Thank you for your input. What I failed to mention in my initial report, was that these 'defects' or severe color variances in the wood were not immediately apparent. If they had been, it would have been addressed during the walk through of the home. However, the color variances became increasingly apparent over time.

I was able to finally file a claim. When the company sent me the information to do that-they also sent along a color brochure showing the color variances that are supposedly a characteristic of the particular wood type which my cabinets are made of. Which was basically telling me my warranty claim would be denied if filed. I still feel the same about this company. I don't feel that my cabinets should look the way the do,and it should be acceptable to the company who manufactured them. I would not recommend this product to anyone.

and I don't (and never did) understand one thing:

Why on earth did you not say something on your walkthrough? Why did you wait so long to try and resolve this issue? This kind of situation is what new home warranties were designed for.

I worked for MASCO for several years as a branch manager. Here's my .02, and that's exactly what it's worth...

You're out of warranty, unless NJ has some crazy consumer protection laws that Georgia doesn't have. It is lousy, I know, but that's the way it goes. Contracting is a cutthroat business. MASCO didn't get to be a Fortune 200 company by repairing shoddy installations from three years ago.

I would get calls from customers like you a few times a year. I was ORDERED to ignore them. The prevailing attitude was to let them threaten all they wanted to, because the warranty terms were clear, and it had expired, and that was that. There was nothing I could do.

Call your builder. Ask for your warranty rep's number... if it's a big national builder like Pulte or Beazer, they will have a rep assigned to your neighborhood. If it's a small company, you may have more trouble getting a timely response. Failing that, call the MASCO branch that installed your cabinets. Look them up here:

http://www.masco-csc.com/

MASCO operates regionally. The company is like an Octopus. Go straight to the top. Ask if you are speaking to the regional manager's office. If you aren't, get the number from the person who answers.

I understand that you're upset, but whatever you do, BE NICE. Firm and persistant, but NICE. The best case scenario is going to be a negotaiated, discounted repair job. What's more likely is they will tell you they are sorry, but there's nothing they can do. Act like an angry, uninformed hothead and you will shurely get nowhere, fast. But hey, you'll probably get nowhere anyway, so you may get more personal satisfaction from letting loose on some production manager. :-)